Mid-October musings

  I am trying to get back to blogging more often, but am still pretty dry on ideas. When that happens, I just do several random topics that come to me, or that have been on my mind. So that is what this post is. When I do these kind of posts, even I don't usually know what all I am going to talk about until it is all over and done.

1) The NFL protests

  I hate football, as anyone knows that knows me very well. I also don't like sports in general, especially professional sports. I think it is insane how much athletes get paid, and how obsessed with sports and sports figures America is. That said, even if I liked football and professional sports, I'd be disgusted with the protests lately. I don't like Trump and he needs to stay off of Twitter..... but these overpaid immature guys need to respect our flag and country and do their protests off the field. The popularity of the NFL is going down, and I think that is awesome.

2) Company

  My best friend and some of his family are in Lancaster, PA this week on vacation. They are heading my way today, October 12,  and are coming to see my place, then eat at Dutch House, a local restaurant that one of my sisters and all 3 of my nieces work at. My best friend, Steven,  will spend the night, then we will meet the rest of his family tomorrow in Sugarcreek, OH to shop and tour for a while. Then next Thursday, Steven is coming back to visit for a few days. I'm looking forward to both visits, and am going to have my house in tip top shape.

3) Ellen

 I mentioned Ellen Degeneres in my last blog, and how a couple of my young friends who also deal with same-sex attractions love her, and didn't appreciate me pointing out that she would mock us for not giving into our attractions, and that I don't believe a Christian should watch her show.

 I am not trying to belabor my point, and I am far from being perfect, but it seems we Christians aren't careful enough in what we view. There really isn't much on TV that Christians should watch, and there is a lot that we watch that we shouldn't. Ellen is just one of many shows a Christian shouldn't watch.

 Modern day Christians seem to have this attitude that we can do whatever we want as Christians and don't need to be careful in what we view, how we dress, where we go, who we hang out with, what we read, what we listen to, where we go, etc....I don't believe the majority of us are careful enough, nor do we seek God's approval/will on these things...... and I believe He does care.

 If Jesus was doing His earthly ministry today in 2017, I cannot imagine Him watching Ellen, Game of Thrones, or most of what we indulge our senses on.... although I doubt He'd waste His time on frivolous things like TV shows and movies, or even reading novels and other ways we entertain ourselves.

4) Christmas

 I love Christmas, and have been looking at the Christmas decorations I have. I have a lot. I don't even know where I am going to put everything. I am debating whether it is too much of a bother to put away some of my normal decor and replace it with Christmas, or what to do. I also have a lot of lights, and may put lights in all of my windows visible from the road....which are most of them. I think I may also put lights on the porch nearest the road also. We shall see. I do know it is coming faster than I want to think about.

5) Book

  I read the most awful book recently. It was one that I requested to review, and I wasn't the only person to not like it. I was given the option of just posting about a giveaway connected with the blog tour, so I did that.

 Here's the gist of the book: Bad boy, age 23, Noah is a drunk and does drugs. He lives with his older brother and wife, and his brother is a pastor. Noah is constantly with a different girl, and all that a guy like him would do with a girl. He meets a young girl in his town that is a Christian and good girl, and falls for her hard. He convinces her to go on a date and cleans up his act.. stops the drinking, drugs, and women. He asks her to marry him after knowing her a short while and she says yes. On a second visit, she walks in on him just as his ex girl friend kisses him without his consent. She runs, and he has no idea where she lives or why she isn't contacting him. He gets back to God and starts making something of his life, pining all the time for the girl he loves, and she is off somewhere pining for him. He builds a house with an art studio for her. The whole book you think they will get back together, but nope! She starts dating Noah's lawyer and somehow Noah and his lawyer never figure out the lawyer is dating the girl Noah loves. Noah's ex gets pregnant by another man and he marries her so she'll keep the baby and ends up deciding he loves her, and the girl he loved marries his lawyer and neither of the lovers know the truth or where each other is.

 It was a waste of time, and I hated it....plus the wrting wasn't too great, nor was there a murder as the book indicated. I seriously don't know of a book I disliked more than this one. Ugh.

6) Essential oils

 There are people who would disagree with me, but I view essential oils as the same as the snake oil of yesterday. I think it is a lot of hoopla, and people are putting way too much faith and stock in something that doesn't do what people claim that it does. I have a co-worker is a fanatic about them and actually carries several with her. She is a dealer and is against scented candles, pretty much all cleaning supplies, etc. She was telling us how bad all of these things are for you in our meeting, so I said if she scared anyone into getting rid of their scented candles, I'd be happy to take them. :)

 And I have essential oils of my own, but they actually do what they promise......

7) Flu shot

  Speaking of hoopla, there is a lot of hoopla about the flu shot. People are convinced it is bad for you and are sharing more horror stories about it than Steven King has written about anything. I have been getting one since I started working in a hospital, and think it would be crazy for me not to. My doctor even pushed it....though someone claimed the doctor may not be right....yet I should take the advice of my non-medical friend over my doctor....like that is going to happen. :)

8) Christmas CDs

 I am sure there are people who have more Christmas CDs than I have, but I have quite an extensive collection. I always buy a few new ones at the beginning of the season, and also end up buying a few after Christmas half off. I have three on order so far: Doug Anderson, Sam Levine (Sax), and Casting Crowns. I also may buy the new Alabama Christmas CD.

9) Donald Trump

  I still have strong feelings about Donald Trump, and his nomination did damage to my faith in ways pro-Trump people would never understand, nor may they care. The most difficult things for me was having other Christians who tried so hard to get me to go against my conscience and vote for a man I felt I could not vote for as a Christian. If anyone should have understood that, it should have been other Christians. The other difficult thing for me is how so many Christians defend and excuse behaviors in Trump that the Bible condemns and they'd never approve of in someone else.

  The last election has really changed me and affected me. I may never tell anyone again who I am supporting and voting for. If it is so important to us to get our candidate elected that we resort to bad attitudes and the stuff that went on from all sides this past election, then politics is too important to us and we would be better off not voting at all if we resort to name calling, lies, false accusations, and trying to get people to go against their conscience.

10) Sam Levine

  I mentioned a Christmas CD by Sam Levine that I have on order. Sam Levine is a great saxophone player who I enjoy listening to more than Kenny G. Sam does a variety of CDs. He has done several Christian CDs, music from the 50's, 60's, and even hit songs from movies. I have several of his CDs and look forward to hearing this new Christmas CD of his. I already have one Christmas CD he did several years back. I definitely recommend him.

11) Halloween

  Halloween has become one of my least favorite holidays, if not the very least favorite. I refuse to turn my light on so a bunch of little beggars can come and take candy that I'd rather eat myself. Cynical, I know.

 When I was a kid, my parents took us trick-or treating to people we knew. We were not turned loose in a neighborhood where we didn't know anyone.

 Several years ago, I spoke on Halloween at my church. I have read more since then and am more convinced than I was there that Halloween is a holiday Christians should not observe or have anything to do with. Radical I know, but that is what I believe after what I have read and studied about it.

 I recommend the book pictured below, which I somehow ended up with two copies of.

12) Weird sale

  I love to shop at used stores. You never know what kind of treasures you may find there. One such store is the Re-store near me. It is run by Habitat for Humanity, and though their main focus is on furniture and housewares, they also carry books, CDs, and a lot of other "stuff'". Today, they had a sale "25% off all red things". I wasn't sure what that entailed, and was surprised when I got to the register and they discounted all but one item I had because they all had some red on them somewhere. The odd item out was a CD that has a blue cover. I was happy at the unexpected discount. 

13) Stereo

 I bought my biggest purchase on eBay..... a stereo. I gave up on getting the 5-disc changer working on my stereo. It skips and starts the CDs over. The tape decks don't work, and I am just using it to play my computer and DVDs through. I searched on eBay for a Sony 5-disc changer, hoping to find the same model....unlikely, I know. I didn't find one, but I found a Sony that is very similar. It has a 5-disc changer that works and 2 tape decks that work. It has no speakers, but mine will work and I would want to use my speakers anyway...... they are epic. When I bought my stereo around 20 years ago, they didn't have the speakers that went with it in stock, so they gave me bigger and better speakers with more watts than what came with the stereo. I'll use them as long as  they work. They truly are epic. :)

  And that is all for this blog post.